Apparatus for incorporating sleeved valves in bags



May 17, H. CR APPARATUS FOR INCORPORATING sLEEvED VALVES 1N BAGS Filed April 27, 1954 5 sneek-sheet 1 JI J6 /y ATTORNEYS 2,708,393 APPARATUS FOR INCORPORATING sLEEvED VALVES' 1N BAGS Filed April 2?,.41954 H. H. ORR

May 17, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR /fwmlj 011' ATTORNEYS May 17, 1955 H. H. oRR 2,708,393

APPARATUS FOR INCORPORATING SLEEVED VALVES IN BAGS Filed April 27, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 EBHYDR IEW/ag;

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ATYNUVEYS May 17, 1955 H. H. ORR 2,708,393

APPARATUS FOR INCORPORATING SLEEVED VALVES AIN BAGS Filed April 27, 1954 5 Shets-Sheet 4 A43 47. 65 jf? 46 2f INVENTOR ATTORNEYS May 17, 1955 H, H, @RR 2,708,393

APPARATUS FOR INCORPORATING SLEEVED VALVES IN BAGS Filed April 27, 195.4 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENT OR ATTORNEYS APPARATUS FR NCRPORATING SLEEVED VALVES KN BAGS Howard H, rr, New reans, La. Application April Z7, 1954, Serial No. 425,937

12 Claims. (Cl. 93-8) This invention relates to a machine for incorporating sleeved valves in bags, and is an irnprovement of the valve sleeve transfer and inserting mechanism of the machine disclosed in co-pending application Serial No. 298,748, filed July 14, 1952.

The machine is designed to insert valve sleeves in the well-known tubular, multi-ply, gusseted paper bags. Such bags are closed at their bottoms and have the top near one corner infolded to form a valve. A sleeve, which is generally a rectangular sheet folded upon itself congruently, is arranged within the infolded valve with its free edges in line with the top of the bag. Its inner end is folded to embrace the free edge of the valve and is pasted thereto. lts outer end projects beyond the gusset. The bag is finished before filling by closing the top of the bag, the valve, and valve sleeve by a line or stitching. The bag is lled through the sleeve, and the sleeve tucked into the valve to close the valve.

The machine disclosed in the above-mentioned application comprises four units. The rst unit cuts sleeve blanks successively from a roll of material, overfolds a narrow triangular ear along one edge adjacent one corner, provides two spaced lines of paste parallel to the opposite end edge on the underside of the blank adjacent to but spaced from said opposite end edge, folds down a flange from said opposite edge on a line intermediate the lines of paste, and parallel thereto, and deposits said blank on a platform with said flange and paste lines overhanging an edge of the platform. Another unit consists of an indexing drum facing the platform with its axis perpendicular to the flanged edge of the blank on said platform, said indexing drum having spaced pairs of clamping arms in radial planes equiangularly displaced about the axis of the drum, each spaced pair of arms being adapted to receive and hold a flat bag with its top end adjacent said platform and the corner which is to be infolded to form e the valve adjacent the axis of the drum, said drum having an indexing position in which the bag is held vertical before the platform, and means for spreading the gusset to open the lower end of the mouth of the valve. The

third unit is a transfer mechanism which grips the sleeve t blank on the platform, further spread the mouth of the bag, moves the sleeve blank to a position in which its flanged portion overfolds the free inner edges of the valve with a paste line on each side, and presses the overfolded portion against the valve to secure adhesion. The fourth unit cooperates with the indexing drum to simultaneously infold the corner of the bag and crease the sleeve blank downwardly in the middle in the valve just formed.

The present invention concerns an improved structure embodying units three and four described above.

In inserting the sleeve blank into the valve, it is necessary to spread that portion of the bag which forms the valve to position the valve lip vertically within the angle formed between the body and flange of the sleeve blank and to press the elements together to adhere the sleeve blank to the bag, This places the lower end of the presser plate, disclosed in the above-mentioned application, be-

2,708,393 Patented May 17, 1955 hind the valve lip, and it has been necessary to pull the valve lip forward to free the presser plate. This precluded a preliminary creasing of the sleeve blank at this station. It is an object of the present invention to lift the presser plate prior to retraction from the bag to permit the valve lip and sleeve blank to remain in the plane they occupy when pressed together.

Another object is to provide a more efficient wiper action for adhering the sleeve blank to the bag.

Still another object is to provide mechanism for inserting the sleeve which will allow a pre-creasing of the sleeve blank at the inserting station.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description of one practical embodiment of the invention when taken in conjunction with the drawings which accompany, and form part of, this specification.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a side elevation of a sleeve-blank inserting unit of a machine for inserting sleeved valves in bags showing the mechanism transporting a sleeve blank t0- ward a bag;

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the sleeve blank inserted and being pressed against the valve lip for adhesion thereto;

Figure 3 is a View showing the inserting mechanism at the start of its retracting movement;

Figure 4 is an end elevation of the machine looking in the direction of the arrows of line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is perspective view of a portion of the frame, the upper carriage and associated mechanism;

Figure 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 6 6 of Figure 2;

Figure 7 is a top plan view of the machine;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through a portion of the upper carriage, the presser plate and sleeve blank grippers, showing the parts in blank gripping and inserting position;

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 8 showing the presser plate raised for retraction and the grippers in release position; and

Figure l0 is a partial transverse section showing the mounting for the grippers, and is taken on the line lil-10 of Figure 9.

In the application mentioned above, lengths of paper are cut from a roll and a flange is turned down at one side to form the sleeve blank. Lines of adhesive are placed on either side of the line of fold parallel thereto to secure the sleeve when it is placed in the valve. The blank, so formed, yis deposited upon a platform. Gusseted bags are positioned between spaced pairs of clamping arms on an indexing drum with their top ends adjacent the platform with the corner which is to be infolded to form the valve downward when in position to receive the sleeve blank. Means are provided on the drum for spreading the gusset to open the lower end of the mouth of the valve.

In the drawings, the platform upon which the sleeve blanks are deposited is shown at 1, and a portion of the indexing drum at 2. A sleeve blank 3 is on the platform with the flange 4 overhanging the side of the platform adjacent the indexing drum. The blank is deposited upon the platform at one side so that the paste lines are beyond the edge. The end of a bag 5 is shown on the indexing drum between the clamping arms 6. The top of the bag faces the platform and the corner 7 which is to form the valve is downward. This places one gusset at the bottom. As described in the mentioned application, hinged blades (not shown) are between thesides of the gusset, and when they open they spread the sides of the gusset abruptly at a wide angle. The tensioning of the gusset forwardly of the hinge blades creates a transverse fold line 8 across the gusset between the points where the inclined edges of ,J the hinge blades Contact the outer fold lines of the gusset, so that the portion 9 of the gusset forward of the fold line is planiform and perpendicular to the immediately adjacent parts of the sides of the bag, with a predilection to buckle inwardly, being intersected longitudinally by the middle fold line of the gusset. The prolongation lil forms three sides of a rectangle at the mouth of the bag, the bottom side being substantially horizontal when the bag is at the sleeve inserting station and the short sides l1 of the prolongation being also in a substantially horizontal plane, the parts of the bag referred to being shown in Figure l. The platform l is supported by a pair of castings 12 which serve as a framework to support the transfer mechanism. The castings have forward and rear vertical legs 13 and 14 which are connected by vertically spaced horizontal members l' and lr6. The drawings show that there are two pairs of horizontal members l5 and 16, one pair above the platform l and the other pair immediately below it. The horizontal members are alike, and form two pairs of guideways', the upper guideways each having longitudinal closed ended guide slot 17 at the same level and the lower guideways having similar slots 1S. Upper and lower carriages r9 and Ztl are mounted for guided movement in the respective pairs of guideways.

The upper carriage i9 comprises a pair of parallel bars 2l having downwardly deflected forward portions 22, and having a horizontal bridge member 23 secured at their forward ends. The bridge member may be as long or longer than the width of the valve when spread. The bars are connected at their rear ends to a carriage body plate 24. Spaced parallel bars 2S are fixed to the underside of the body plate and extend beyond the outer sides thereof. The cross bars have flanged rollers 26 journalled at their ends, the rollers tracking in the slot 17, while the flanges run just inside of the guideways and prevent endwise shift of the carriage.

The carriage is operated by the following mechanism. There is a cam shaft 27 journalled in bearings 28 mounted on brackets 29 extending rearwardly from the castings 12. This cam shaft is driven through bevel gearing 3l) by shaft 3l., which is operatively connected to the main drive of the valving machine (not shown). A cam 32 is mounted on shaft 27 to drive the carriage. A horizontal hanger bar 33, parallel to the shaft 27, is supported at its ends in the castings 12. bar, having a roller 35 contacting the surface of the cam 32 under the bias of a spring 36 anchored between the carriage and a bracket 37 connected to the casting, and so disposed as to pull the carriage rearward, that is, toward the cam shaft. The lower end of link 34 is connected to a pitman 38 at an intermediate point by the link 39 The lower end of the pitman is pivoted in an ear 40 on the casting l2. The upper end of pitman 38 is connected to the carriage by a thrust link 41, the forward end of which is pivoted to a bracket 42 projecting rearwardly from the rear cross bar 25.

The lower carriage 2% comprises a body plate 43 mounted upon spaced parallel cross bars 44. The cross bars have flanged rollers 45 at their ends which track in the slots i8 in the lower guideways le. The drive means for the lower carriage comprises a cam 46, similar to the cam 32 which operates the upper carriage, mounted on the cam shaft 27, but in opposite phase to cam 32, so that while one carriage moves in the other goes out. Cam 46 works against a roller 47 mounted on a link 48 which swings from the hanger bar 33. At the lower end of link 48 is a link 49 connected to a pitman 50, the latter being pivoted at its lower end also to the casting as is the pitrnan 38. A thrust link 5l is pivotally connected at its respective ends to the carriage and to the upper end of the pitman 5t). The forward end of the thrust link is pivotally connected to the rear of the carriage body plate. A spring 52 biases the lower carriage in a rearward direction and keeps the roller 47 against the cam 46. The forward ends of both carriages face the open valved end of A link 34.- swings from the hanger t the bag held in vertical position on the indexing drum. Figure 2 shows the upper carriage in its extreme forward position, and the lower carriage in its extreme rearward position.

The lower carriage, at its .forward end, has a valve sleeve blank engaging pawl 53. This comprises a sleeve blank engaging blade having rearwardly extending ears S4 for mounting en a pivot shaft 55. Shaft 55 is supported in ears 56 at the forward edge of the carriage body plate 43. The upper edge of the plate is horizontal, and the length of the blade is slightly less than the distance between the castings 12. The distribution of weight of the components of the sleeve blank engaging pawl is such that it normally maintains the forwardly inclined position shown in Figures 2 and 3 with the lower edges of the ears 54 in contact with the forward edge of the carriage plate.

When the carriage 20 is in its innermost position, the blade of the pawl 53 is adjacent the front edge of the platform l, its upper edge being slightly below the level of the upper surface of the platform. The timing of the movement of the carriage with respect to the feed of the sleeve blanks to the platform is such that each time the blade 53 is in the position shown in Figure 2, a sleeve blank slides down on the platform, overhanging both the front edge of the platform and the blade, the latter being slightly out of Contact with the under side of the blank. Since there is a certain amount of free fall of the blank to the platform, great precision cannot be relied upon in the parallelism of the flange 4 with respect to the front edge of the platform, but such precision is unnecessary. When the carriage starts to move forward the blade 53, being below the level of the platform, will miss the line of paste on the underside of the blank and will engage the llange along a line below the corner but above the line of paste on the ange. Continued movement will cause the blade to move into the corner of the blank and shift the blank into parallel relation with itself. The stability of the blade is such that it will not be upset by the resistance of the blank when the blade engages in the corner, but the blank will be drawn from the platform.

Referring again to the upper carriage 19, a press plate 57 is pivotally connected to the bars 21 to lie in front of the bridge member 23 during forward motion of the carriage. Arms 58 project rearwardly from the press plate and are pivoted to the bars 21 at 59. rThe press plate is longer than the prolongation lt) of the bag shown in the drawings so that the press plate can take care of bags of great valve depth. The upper rear surface of the press plate is recessed, as at 60, to receive the bridge member 23. The recess is shaped and proportioned so that the bridge member will lit snugly within it. The lower rear corner of the bridge member is rabbeted along its length to form a vertical face 6l and a rearwardly overhanging horizontal shoulder 62. The lower rear face 63 of the press plate forms a continuation of the vertical face 6l of the rabbet. "t" he rabbet is arranged to permit the incursion of grippers 64 into the rabbet, the grippers being spaced apart a distance less than the width of the sleeve blank. The grippers each consist of a rocking lever 65 journalled on a shaft 66, mounted in spaced brackets 67 carried by the side bars 2l. The lower arm of the rocking lever terminates in a long ljaw 63 that moves into the rabbet immediately below the overhanging shoulder when the jaw is operated to close against a sleeve blank to hold it in the rabbet. Grippers 64 are tensioned in a closing direction by springs 69. The grippers are opened by pins 70 which project inwardly from the arms 5S and cooperate with cam blocks 71 on the upper portions of the levers 65 when the press plate is raised as will be described.

When the lower carriage moves forward it carries the sleeve blank with it. As the forward motion continues, the blank is pulled off the platform and its rear end drops down upon the carriage plate 43, the blank assuming a position downwardly inclined toward the rear with its ange at right angles to its downwardly inclined face. Iust as the carriages have about reached their respective foremost and rearmost positions, the flange 4 contacts the rear vertical wall 63 of the press plate diverting the flange downwardly at an acute angle to the inclined body of the blank; the pawl blade meets the resistance of the press plate, rocking the blade; the blade pushes the apex of the fold line upward until it contacts the horizontal shoulder of the rabbet in the bridge member. In the meantime, the press plate swings downward, permitting the grippers to close under the inuence of their springs to grip the blank at the apex of the fold. The grippers must have their action precisely timed so that they will hold the blank frictionally when first inserted, and clamp it tightly against the vertical wall 61 of the rabbet as the pawl blade retracts from the fold. rlhe upper carriage is now ready to advance toward the bag, taking with it the blank, and the lower carriage is ready to return to its rearmost, blank-receiving position under platform 1.

Referring once again to the upper carriage, the forward face of the press plate is provided with a tube spreader 72 in the form of a wide angled wedge, wide in a horizontal direction and then in a vertical direction. It is shown as being coextensive in length with the press plate, but may be of any desired length. Its apex or nose is in the medial longitudinal plane of the carriage and it is positioned above the level of the rabbet. Its function is to spread apart the opposite sides of the mouth of the bag immediately above the prolongation 10, and by so doing, to tension the three sides of the prolongation so as to straighten it and thereby lift it and bring it in proper position in front of the sleeve blank to permit the two to be pasted together.

As the upper carriage moves forward, the tube spreader and press plate pass over the short edges 1l until the tube spreader contacts the opposite edges of the mouth of the bag immediately above said short edges. The opposite edges are already standing some distance apart due to the spreading action of the hinge blades which have opened the gusset. Therefore, while the nose of the tube spreader will have entered some distance within the bag mouth when the press plate makes contact with the side edges of said mouth, said tube spreader will not yet be in contact with said side edges. As the press plate moves in further, pushing with it the side edges which it contacts, said tube spreader will engage the inner sides of the bag adjacent its mouth, and due to the wide angularity of the tube spreader, it will quickly spread the sides at a wide angle. The effect of this is to raise the level of the free edge of the prolongation substantially to the height of the fold line between the ange 4 and the face portion of the sleeve blank, and to tension the prolongation into a planiform condition with a rectilinear free edge within the dihedral angle of the sleeve blank and between the paste lines.

A presser foot 73 is provided to press the sleeve blank, bag prolongation and blank flange together to adhere the blank to the bag prolongation. The presser foot comprises a pair of arms 74 pivotally mounted on the outside of castings 12. The free ends of the arms carry presser blades 75 extending across the frame, each arm having a blade which projects toward the other arm. The blades terminate on opposite sides of the medial longitudinal plane of the machine leaving a space 76 between them, which provides a passageway for a creasing blade to be described. The arc of movement of the blades, and their angle, is such that the blades will sweep upward in close contact with the sleeve blank, pressing the several thickness of paper tightly against the presser plate 57. A gear 77 is mounted upon the arm 74 at its pivotal point to operate the presser blade. Gear 77 is in mesh with a gear 78 which, in turn, is in mesh with a segmental gear 79 mounted on the casting 12. An operating entire return movement lever 8) on gear 79 is connected by link 81.to a pivoted lever 82. caused to rock by the main drive of the machine.

As the lever 82 rocks the gear 79 will be given an oscillatory motion, causing the presser blades to sweep upward pressing the several plies of paper against the presser plate S7, to cause them to adhere. The operation of the presser blades is timed so that the blades sweep upward just after the bag mouth has been eX- panded by the tube spreader, and the prolongation has been snapped taut to rise into the dihedral between the sleeve blank face and flange. The presser foot returns to its lowered, inoperative position immediately.

After the presser blades have caused adherence of the sleeve blank to the valve, the press plate 57 and tube spreader are lifted so that they will clear the upstanding prolongation of the bag as the carriage returns. Upward movement of these elements will open the grippers to release the sleeve blank. The press plate is raised by a cam 83 mounted upon a shaft 84, journalled in bearings S5 at the tops of the side frames. Shaft 84 is driven through sprocket chain 86 from the cam shaft 27 Cam S3 cooperates with a lever 87, which is pivoted midway between its ends on brackets 88 attached to the upper surface of the body plate 24 of the upper carriage. The forward end of lever 87 is connected by link 89 to the press plate and tube spreader assembly. When the rise on cam 83 presses upon the free end of lever 87, the press plate will be caused to swing upward on the arms 58 to occupy the position shown in Figures 3 and 9. In this position, the lower edge of the press plate is above the rabbet in the bridge member and only the upper marginal edge of the sleeve blank is above the bottom edge of the bridge member. This small lip will easily slip beneath edge of the bridge member. As the press plate moves upward the pins 70 will ride upon the cam blocks 71 forcing the grippers 64 to release position. The upper carriage is now ready to return to its original position to receive another sleeve blank.

Due to the fact that lever 87 is mounted upon carriage 19 and travels with it, that portion of the lever rearward of the pivot is quite long for sliding contact with the cam. The design of the cam and the angle of the free end of the lever must be chosen to keep the lever depressed and the press plate lifted during the of the carriage. The cam will permit the lever to rise just as a sleeve blank is lifted into the rabbet in the bridge member, and as the press plate lowers the grippers will be permitted to grip the sleeve blank.

As the press plate is raised prior to the return of the carriage, a creaser blade 9@ is caused to rise and strike the upstanding valve lip and sleeve blank to crease the blank so that the vertically positioned planiform portion of the valve will follow its tendency to fold together under the influence of the gusset crease. The nal creasing will be done at the next indexing station of the drum, as described in application Serial No. 298,748.

The creaser blade is mounted upon a shaft 91 journalled upon a forward extension 92 of the frame. The blade is angularly formed so that its free end will strike a slicing blow upon the sleeve blank and fold it inwardly. Thus, when 'the free end of the blade is vertical the sleeve and valve will be partially folded. Shaft 91 carries a gear 93 in mesh with a gear 94 which is in engagement with a rack 95. Rack 95 is mounted for horizontal reciprocation, and is moved by a cam 96 on shaft 97. Beveled gears 98 couple shaft 97 to vertical drive shaft 31. The cam is positioned on the shaft to operate the blade to crease the sleeve immediately after the press plate has moved upward and the grippers have released the sleeve blank. The creaser will move upwardly as the presser blades are returning to inoperative position. The creaser blade moves through the space 76 between the ends of the blades.

The sleeve blank inserting mechanism disclosed will move into and out of the mouth of the bag without disturbing the valve lip, and the pressing of the sleeve blank into adhesion with the bag is more eiiiciently accomplished. The initial creasing of the sleeve blank at the inserting station permits better formation of the valve, and prevents the sleeve from buckling outwardly with respect to the bag under the inherent tendency of the valve mouth to collapse.

While in the above one practical embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it will be understood that the details of construction described and shown are by way of example and are capable of modification without limiting the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. In apparatus for incorporating sleeved valves in bags in which sleeve blanks having a down-folded ilange along one edge with paste lines on either side of the fold line is deposited on a platform with the flange and paste lines overhanging the edge of the platform and means for presenting bags successively adjacent said platform in vertical position with their mouths toward said platform and the lower end of tl e mouth spread to form a transverse lip, transfer means for conveying said blanks from said platform to said bags comprising, a blanklitting carriage and a blank-inserting carriage, means to reciprocate said carriages in opposite phase, said blank lifting carriage having a pivoted blade to engage said blank on said platorm and convey said blank upon movement of said blank-lifting carriage to said blankinserting carriage, said blank-inserting carriage having a bridge member rabbeted along its lower edge to receive the apex of the fold in said blank, pivoted grippers to clamp said blank in said rabbet, a movable press plate supported at the front of said blank-inserting carriage and extending below said bridge member when said grippers are in blank gripping position, and means to raise said press plate to lift its lower edge above the bottom of said bridge member after said blank-inserting carriage has reached inserting position and to lower said press plate when said blank-inserting carriage is retracted.

2. In apparatus as claimed in claim l, means responsive to raising and lowering movement of said press plate to move said grippers to release and gripping positions respectively.

3. ln apparatus as claimed in claim l, a presser blade mounted for sweeping movement across the lower face of said press plate, said blade being divided along a medial line to dene a central slot, and a sleeve blank creaser blade mounted for movement on an arc intersecting the path of movement of said presser plate and movable through said slot.

4. ln apparatus as claimed in claim l, said press plate being pivotally connected to said blank-inserting carriage, said means to raise and lower said press plate comprising a driven cam, and a cam follower lever connected to said press plate.

5. ln apparatus as claimed in claim l, said press plate having rearwardly extending arms pivotally connected to said blank-inserting carriage, pins projecting from said arms, and cam blocks on said grippers in the path of movement of said arms to move said grippers to release and gripping positions respectively upon raising and lowering movement of said press plate.

6. in apparatus for incorporating sleeved valves in bags in which sleeve blanks having down-folded anges along one edge with paste lines on either side of the line of fold is deposited on a platform with the ange and paste lines overhanging the edge of the platform and means for presenting bags successively adjacent said platform in vertical position with their mouths toward said platform and the lower portion of the mouth spread to form a transverse lip, transfer means for conveying said blanks from said platform to said bags comprising, a frame, a blank-lifting carriage and a blank-inserting carriage, mounted on said frame, means to reciprocate said carriages in opposite phase, said blank-lifting carriage having a pivoted blade to engage a blank on said platform and convey said blank upon movement of said blank-lifting carriage to said blank-inserting carriage, said blank-inserting carriage having a bridge member extending perpendicular to the end of said bag and being rabbeted along its lower edge to receive the apex of the told in said blank, grippers to clamp said blank in said rabbet, a press plate having rearwardly extending arms pivoted to the blank-inserting carriage, said press plate being recessed to receive said bridge member with a wall of said press plate forming a continuation of the wall oi said rabbet and extending below said bridge member, a tube spreader carried at the front of said press plate to spread the mouth of said bag after said press plate is in said bag beyond said transverse lip to tauten said lip and raise it into the apex of the sleeve blank fold, and means to lift said press plate to clear the tautened lip of the bag as the blank-inserting carriage ioves away from the bag.

7. in apparatus as claimed in claim 6, a presser blade pivotally mounted for vertical sweeping movement across the face of said press plate below said bridge member.

8. in apparatus as claimed in claim 6, a presser blade having arms at its sides pivotal'ly mounted on said frame below said blank-inserting carriage to permit arcuate sweeping movement of said blade across the face of said press plate below said bridge member, and means to actuate said presser blade.

9. in apparatus as claimed in cla-im 8, said presser blade divided medially perpendicularly to the blade length to form a slot, a creaser blade mounted on said frame for movement on an arc intersecting the arc ot movement of said presser blade and movable through said slot.

l0. ln apparatus as claimed in claim 6, said means to raise and lower said press plate comprising a driven cam, and a pivoted cani-follower lever having one end connected to said press plate.

ll. ln apparatus as claimed in claim 6, pins projecting from the arms of said press plate, and cam-blocks on said grippers in the path of movement of said pins to move said grippers to release and gripping positions respectively upon raising and lowering movement of said press plate.

l2. ln apparatus as claimed in claim ll, said means to raise and lower said press plate comprising a driven cam, and a pivoted cam-follower lever having one end connected to said press plate.

No references cited. 

